Have you ever been to a mental hospital?what was it like?

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jenisautistic
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11 Jan 2015, 7:57 pm

Share your experience. Describe it.


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11 Jan 2015, 10:49 pm

I've been to plenty, courtesy of my severe bipolar. :?

More often than not, though, I've been to ERs and ETSes (which is like a psych ER), which is typically where you start out. Staying in hospital ERs is awful; you're just isolated in a cold hospital room with a security guard keeping watch (with varying levels of security strictness, e.g. sometimes you can go to the bathroom on your own, other times it's just a bottle) for hours upon hours on end until they're able to move me to their own ward or transport me to ETS. At ETS they hold/evaluate you for a night until they either release you with some pills and follow-up psychiatrist appointment, or they transfer you to another facility for further hold.

Every hospital varies: I've been in good ones (more leisurely environments where they have regular therapy and activities) and bad ones (which are kind of like adult day cares). If you ask someone "what is it like?", they'll all say the same thing: boring. I always get lots of reading done in hospitals because there's so little to do during the days. My medication at least helped me sleep for long periods of time, but there's really not much to do, especially for hospitals which don't have any regular activities.

However, the most important thing to remember is this: whether my experience was good or bad, the hospitals all helped me. They put me on the right medications which successfully stabilized me and prevented me from doing something really bad to myself and others (sure, I went back a lot, but that's my own irresponsibility). Don't let people's negative experiences make hospitals seem scary; they're not at all like they are in the movies. They're there to help you. Honestly, it's actually pretty hard to get into a hospital unless they see you as a genuine threat, so don't think that if you tell someone you're hearing voices (I remember you're the one who started the voices thread) that you're immediately going to be locked up. It doesn't happen that way. Hospitals can be unpleasant, but they're ultimately beneficial.



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11 Jan 2015, 11:25 pm

Like any other hospital visit, with the difference being more long term accommodations and trappings.



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13 Jan 2015, 5:01 pm

I was very, very close to being put in one as teenager. So close that my mom was filling out the paperwork while we were there. She decided to call my previous mental health counselor. He had worked there for 15 years -saying it would really damage me more than help.

There was unpredictable violent feeling out of the office. We left. (My high school suspended me again saying I 'needed mental clearance' . My behavior was noticeably troubled, defiant when bipolar depression appeared.


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deafghost52
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14 Jan 2015, 11:14 am

Yes. In fact, just within the past four years, I've been to two different ones: Mountain Crest Behavioral Health Center in Fort Collins (my hometown, NOT to be confused with my birthplace, Ephrata, PA), and the CMHIP (Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo). The former I was admitted to because of a drug overdose in January of 2011 (at least, my mom says it was January, but I thought it was December), which has had some lasting cognitive effects ever since (also, at the time, I thought I was some sort of "existential deity," but not necessarily a god, although most people interpreted it that way) . And let me tell you, Jen, the experience at Mountain Crest was MUCH better than the experience I had in the ER prior to being admitted (I was barely able to remain conscious in the ER). I met some really good people at Mountain Crest (and I'm not talking about the staff) - Palden, who I believe was of Nepalese descent, was one that really stands out in my mind, along with a guy named Steve who shared a room with me while there (there was another patient who shared the same room with me before he left, but his name escapes me, which sucks because he was really awesome and in to Prog Metal like me). As Skibz mentioned, it was a little devoid of stimulation - I read half of The Hobbit while there. But, again, the other patients were some of most real, genuine, and authentic human beings I have ever had the privilege to meet, and talking with them made the experience a HELL of a lot smoother.

If you'd like to skip the next few paragraphs, here's a summary of my answer*

My experience at the CMHIP was very similar; however, the events leading UP to it were VERY different, and much more traumatic (and that's to say the least). In spring 2013 (wow, I can't believe it's almost been two years already), the semester after I had met my girlfriend, I took her out on our first date on Valentine's Day. Needless to say it was pretty extravagant for a first date, and she loved it. Later that semester, however, I became pretty unstable, and started overdosing again (in much more minute doses this time). Eventually, during a movie night (which we try to have every Friday), she picked out Meet Dave, which I eventually picked up on as a euphemism for "you're so uptight and robot-like - you should just learn to relax and stop being too 'Aspie-ish'" (which, you know, she actually believes she's one as well, but she tries to fit in with NTs much more than I do, whereas I condemn them, so I see where she's coming from). I got so upset though, that I thought about overdosing; however, I was afraid of dying due to overdose, so what did I do instead? I flushed my godd*** pills down the toilet...all of them. And that was in April. By May, I was very irritable and became easily frustrated - with little things, too. About ten days before the semester ended - yes, only TEN DAYS - I skipped out on a voice recital that I was supposed to be at (because I was a music major at the time) in order to get a haircut downtown...for said recital (I underestimated how much time I had before I had to get back). My girlfriend was FURIOUS - not only was this the SECOND time that I had skipped out on this recital, but she had also put on makeup (which she RARELY ever does), and to top it all off, when someone announced that "the last performer hadn't showed up," and the recital ended there (or maybe someone else went on before it ended - I don't know), EVERYONE in the recital hall turned. towards. her. She felt mortified and humiliated, and like they thought it was her fault, or something. I will never forgive myself for that. But, oh, it gets better. I felt so bad that I thought about killing myself again (although I didn't know HOW I was going to do it, given that my meds were gone), and so she kept me in her dorm room for the night. Early that morning (May 10, 2013, I believe - I day I'll not forget anytime soon), probably around 3:00, I started complaining about feeling uncomfortable in the bed, and wanting to go to my room; basically, I felt REALLY REALLY anxious. But she was determined to keep me there - to keep me safe. So I started flipping out trying to get to her door, but she restrained me (even choking me a little, but that was a complete accident - however, it did provoke more violence out of me), but eventually I got free. I struck her. I struck her out of complete rage, and because I was afraid (and I also bit her). And then she tried getting in my way at the door (she was at the base of it, instead of standing up), so I pulled her out of the way from the door - by her hair. I can still hear her screams of protest. When I was free to leave, and she was sitting at the foot of her bed crying, I called her a crazy b****, just "for good measure." I left her dorm hall, storming to mine, and then realized something: my key card was still in her room. So I was locked out of BOTH dorm halls. That just fueled my rage even more (had someone been close enough by, making fun of me acting like a complete lunatic, I could have seriously hurt them, and made things A LOT worse than they were). I screamed one profanity: "F***!", and struck a window - twice - pretty badly. After that, I managed to get in (I don't remember how - I was too angry to remember), and when I got to my room, my gf was already there - along with my roommate. She had partially explained what had happened, and he was trying to calm me down - even gave me a hug, and I didn't protest or anything. They tried to convince me to keep quiet about it, and it would be just between us, but I felt too guilty about hurting her, and breaking the window (and I wanted to avoid being caught during an investigation and getting into even MORE trouble). So I handed my roommate my phone and had him call the cops for me. He did just that - albeit reluctantly - and they arrived a few minutes later. I was petrified - just recalling ANY of this is making me cry and/or shake right now. I told them my story - my gf told them hers. And she did her best to try to keep either of us from getting arrested - to no avail. They ended up arresting both of us, but when she said she was just "trying to help," and was balling her eyes out, they dropped her charges. When they took me away, however, she says - ... she says she almost died of anxiety. She wanted to lash out and get them off of me - but she couldn't. She knew it would cause more harm than help. I got in the patrol car, and the officer driving (a true cop, whom I'm now proud to call a friend) lectured me about how what I did did NOT make me a bad person - I just needed to learn from that mistake.

Eventually, they took me to the jailhouse, and locked me in a jail cell with just a cold bench to sleep on (I was wearing nothing but a blue plastic gown-type-thing, like they have in hospitals) and they kept the light on the whole time. I was probably there for roughly 30-33 hours or so, but time gets a little funny when you are deprived of a clock, so it felt like an eternity. I felt like I was going mad, and saw inscriptions on the wall (probably from people who had long enough finger nails to make them), so I was inspired to write my own: "Don't do evil." I cried most of the time in that cell, and swore NEVER again to hurt her - or I would severely (and I mean severely) punish myself for it. When my time was up in the cell, they took me to a room where I faced my "sentence", I guess you could call it, before a judge via two-way web conference. He told me that my gf set up a restraining order against me (which she didn't - they did that for her, despite her protests), and I asked him how long it would be before I could see her again, and he replied "That all depends on her." The hold time I sat before him, I was shaking uncontrollably, both from stress/anxiety, and being VERY cold. Later, after I saw her again, she told me that she pulled a lot of strings to get me into the CMHIP, instead of an actual prison, so I am forever indebted to her for that.

After I was "sentenced", a very burly officer - who somehow reminded me of my gf's dad, which kind of terrified me, to say the least - cuffed my legs and my hands with one of those cuffs where there's a chain leading between the two sets of cuffs, and he led me outside to a police van (where, I guess, they transfer convicts between facilities), completely barefooted and naked aside from the plastic over-wrap I was wearing. When he got me in the back of the van, he told me something about how he wasn't afraid to whoop my a**, or something like, if I was belligerent in any way (and he REALLY got up in my grill, too when he said it). I just nodded in compliance, and he said "O.K.", and off we went to Pueblo (btw, my college is in Alamosa, so this was a fairly long drive; I'd say about 1-2 hours). When we got close to the CMHIP, he was going REALLY fast - in the city in which we were driving (which could have been Pueblo), no less - and he hit breaks equally hard and nearly launched me into the front of the back space of the van. When he asked if I was okay, I just kind of quietly said yes.

When we arrived - finally, THANK GOD - at the CMHIP, he told the in-patient people that I was "quiet as a church mouse." Which, I guess, surprised him, considering that there are LOTS of cases of domestic violence in Alamosa, and most of these a**holes that he comes across are probably pretty belligerent, so he assumed I would be too. I really hope I changed his perception of that (which, let's face it - I probably didn't :roll: ). And so, I was finally admitted to the CMHIP. Not much was all that different from Mountain Crest: again, didn't really care for the staff that much, but I grew quite fond of some of the other patients. There was this old black dude who gave me a honey bun one day - I don't think I'll forget that random act of kindness until the day I die; just wish I could remember his name. My Aspie side kind of came out a little bit when I told this nice girl, who was about my age, that she kind of reminded of Geddy Lee from RUSH (she sort of took offense to that, but I tried "cleaning it up" as best I could, so to speak). I only remember the names of three people in that facility: Pete (or Pedro), who roomed with me and was a good two decades older than me - I was most fond of him - Carlos, who also roomed with me, but spoke no English whatsoever, and since my Spanish was quite rusty, Pete had to be a mediator for us. And then there was this crazy motherf***er named "Indio" (after a character from a 1965 Clint Eastwood classic called For a Few Dollars More), who was usually high on pot when he was NOT in mental health facilities (and probably did some other drugs too), and was by most accounts a sociopath. Yeah, he wanted me to join a band of his (which I'm not even sure existed), and be a vocalist/guitarist. What REALLY put me off from him was the fact that he wanted to put a hit on Pete. I even told the staff about this, and they said it was just "delusions," and bulls*** like that, but when somebody makes a death threat like that, I tend to take it pretty seriously. Anyways, back to Pete. He was in his early 40's and a little shorter than me, and told me that he was in a coma for a good twenty years or so...so, that must have sucked. We spoke a lot when we went out into the courtyard, or played pool and the guitar they had inside, and he really grew on me. He even gave me his e-mail, and I sent him one (almost two years ago, now), but he hasn't responded since...or maybe he has, but I sent it through an account whose inbox I hardly EVER check. I'm probably gonna go check it after I'm done typing. If he didn't respond, though, I don't know if I'll every see him or hear from him again, and I take relationships with people pretty seriously - hell, just this summer, I met an older guy named Bob and his wife on a plane to Harrisburg to visit my old man in Ephrata, and I had my first beer on that flight ('cause I had just turned 21), and we spoke a lot about really cool things: we even both like Stephen King's The Dark Tower, which I thought was pretty cool; I also met this guy - a year older than me - named Mike on the bus this past November, and because I became SO attached, we exchanged numbers, and I friended him on FB.

Anyways, eventually I recuperated over the summer (although my dog died, so that was pretty devastating, especially because it made me realize how sad I'll be when my puppy dies in about ten years, give or take), and my gf and I got back together (although we've broken up and gotten back together AGAIN since then...and almost broke up again).

*So to sum up and answer your question briefly (in case you didn't want to read all of that), yes, I've been to two, and I actually felt more comfortable and safe in those places than I do in society, ironically enough (mostly because of the other patients I met there). I hope you don't have to go through I did and end up in these places, but if you do, my best advise for you is this: make some friends there, because they're probably going to be some of the most valuable people you will ever meet, and the memories you will have with them will be infinitely cherished. I wish you Godspeed, and good luck to you. I hope this answered your question. :)


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y-pod
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14 Jan 2015, 12:03 pm

I haven't been admitted, I can only speak as a visitor. My brother seems to spend 3 months there every year. :(

All I can say is they're very spartan. It's clean and boring there. They do have TV and magazines and books, but I never see anyone using them. Each room has one bed, one dresser and one chair. A sink to wash with and a wardrobe that's locked up. A small window that barred so you can't jump out. They don't want anything remotely dangerous that anybody can get hold of. So keeping up with personal hygiene wasn't too easy when you don't have razor or nail clipper. The staff is quite nice, and some of them pretty hot. :D You don't get to go out until you achieve a milder level, and usually with an escort. So if nobody has the time to visit you don't get to go out. Anyone who visit you need to let them check all the stuff they're bringing.

Anyway if anyone think they might be admitted to a mental hospital. I suggest you pack a travel bag full of necessary stuff like your own shampoo and toothpaste, you own comb, glasses, nail clipper, as if you're going on a vacation. It's bad enough to share bathroom with strangers, having to use public soap is just gross. If you have no clue just look online for "what to bring to hospital" and you'll find all sort of packing lists. My brother never packed anything. I f.....g hated that. I would realize he didn't have any glasses, then drive to his home, tear it apart looking for glasses, drive back to hospital, and end up bringing the wrong one. Occasionally (usually when he's recovered a bit) he would call me and ask for some of his stuff at home. Then we have to search all over again as he never remembers where things are. Last time despite bringing him loads of stuff, he ended up not shaving for 2 months because he said none of the stuff I brought was the right ones. I think if you have someone who lives with you or know you well things would be a lot easier. Unfortunately my brother and I dislike each other so usually we don't have much to do with each other.

Of course we have public healthcare here. So maybe they're just cheap. Public nursing homes here are about as spartan. I don't know if there are some luxury hospital or not in other places. Anyway I have to say last year was one of my unhappiest years due to visiting both public nursing home and public mental hospital every week. I hope I never end up in one of those places. And I hope everyone can go to a nicer hospital if they have to.


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bearded1
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14 Jan 2015, 4:32 pm

You get locked up and there is no way to get out. You can't have anything such as pens, pencils, staples, ... anything where you might hurt yourself or others. They put you on a regular regiment of meds and they get you stable. It is to some degree like being in jail but not quite. You really have to watch yourself in there because you know what state you are in but you don't know about others. The last time I was in I almost got attacked.



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15 Jan 2015, 12:46 am

I was stuck in one for an entire month back in 2011 after having a psychotic episode. It was at around that time when I was diagnosed with Schizophrenia and a few months after when I was diagnosed with Asperger's. It was a pretty unsettling experience. The only real friends I made in there were a guy about a couple years older than me who was in the military (we were close during our stay there often passing the time playin Pokemon on his DS) and a Spanish girl slightly younger than me who knew a little English and was amazed at the little Spanish I knew (she was always asking me to kiss her on the cheek which to this day is the closest I've ever gotten to actually kissing a girl. Rumor had it that my military buddy got a little bit of tongue action from her on the day she was discharged. I'm still slightly jealous to this day). Activities were pretty O.K., but what really bothered me was how trapped I felt. Like I was cut off from civilization except for the people there with me who I felt nervous around when they would flip their s**t at the drop of a hat. More often than not, I was scared that the longer I was in there, the more I would become like them, sort of turning into a product of my environment. Music from my mp3 player was the only comfort I had until someone stole it from my room and I was devastated. Thankfully, my drama teacher visited me and let me borrow a DS and some games that belonged to her grandkids and that made it better. I spent most of my free time playing Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, Bolt (still love that movie), and I think some Super Mario game. For TV I mostly watched Sonic X, Pokemon, and Yu-Gi-Oh on Saturday mornings. Other stuff I watched was That 70s Show, Jerry Springer (until it was banned by a hospital staff member. Dammit), My Wife And Kids (God I miss that show), 1 episode of Total Drama Island (I can't remember which episode it was, but I remembered getting really emotional over who went home despite the fact that it was a Cartoon Network show and therefore not real), The Godfather for the first time, the last several minutes of Meet The Robinsons, and a lot of other stuff. If I had one really positive memory from being there, it would have to be the Super Bowl. It was the Green Bay Packers VS. the Pittsburgh Steelers and everyone there was watching it. The staff let us skip our end of the night meeting at 8 so that we wouldn't miss it. When my parents last visited me, I asked my mom if she'd be able to make a dish of cheesy ham dip and bring it to the hospital with some Ritz crackers. Sure enough, she did and suddenly in that moment I was the big man on campus, so to speak, with the cool mom who brought food for the game. We all snacked on it throughout the entire game, I watched the Black Eyed Peas perform at halftime, laughed at the commercials, and got to see my mom's Packers win the game. It's definitely a Super Bowl that I'll never forget. And speaking of Pittsburgh, later that year I went there to audition for American Idol where the furthest I made it was the celebrity judges. I got to meet Ryan Seacrest, Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, and Steven Tyler not to mention when the episode aired in January of 2012 I was briefly on camera. Friends were hitting me up on Facebook to say that they saw me in the background. My sister who was in college in South Carolina at the time said that her roommates freaked out when she pointed me out onscreen. Sorry to go off topic like that.



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22 Jan 2015, 1:57 am

I just got out of one. I did a one month stint at a new Mental Health Rehabilitation Unit on the South Coast of NSW. It was like a 5 star hotel there! :lol:

7:30am - wake up
7:30am - 8:30am - breakfast
8:30am - 9:30am - meditation and group therapy
9:30am -10:30am - living skills classes (budgeting and financial planning, dietitian, coping skills etc)
10:30am - 11:30am - lectures from visiting doctors and psychologists, employment agencies, community services...yada (boring)
11:30am - 12:30pm - lunch (gourmet smorgasbord)
12:30pm - 2pm - individual counselling, exercise classes (gym) and personal appointments with staff
2pm - 3:30pm - Occupational therapy - doing craft and really fun stuff!
3:30pm - 4:30pm - quiet time - relaxation and mindfulness classes
4:30pm - 6pm - dinner (fully catered and all you can eat - not like hospital food at all)
6pm - 7:30pm - playing board games and games with other patients (they all cheat at Scrabble tho) *sigh*
7:30pm - 10pm - free time
10pm: bed.

It was there I discovered kinetic sand!

Kinetic sand to an aspie is like catnip to a cat. :twisted:

I loved it there and wish I could go back and do it all over again...it was like a mental health resort.



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22 Jan 2015, 6:11 am

A waste of time. Everything was very routine. We were treated as inferior, unintelligent and broken by the nurses. The actual therapy was minimal and for the most part, some jackass came in, threw some medication at me that solved none of my self esteem issues and went on their way. It's a corrupt system and I felt it offered me no benefit whatsoever.


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23 Jan 2015, 5:35 pm

SoMissunderstood wrote:
I just got out of one. I did a one month stint at a new Mental Health Rehabilitation Unit on the South Coast of NSW. It was like a 5 star hotel there! :lol:

7:30am - wake up
7:30am - 8:30am - breakfast
8:30am - 9:30am - meditation and group therapy
9:30am -10:30am - living skills classes (budgeting and financial planning, dietitian, coping skills etc)
10:30am - 11:30am - lectures from visiting doctors and psychologists, employment agencies, community services...yada (boring)
11:30am - 12:30pm - lunch (gourmet smorgasbord)
12:30pm - 2pm - individual counselling, exercise classes (gym) and personal appointments with staff
2pm - 3:30pm - Occupational therapy - doing craft and really fun stuff!
3:30pm - 4:30pm - quiet time - relaxation and mindfulness classes
4:30pm - 6pm - dinner (fully catered and all you can eat - not like hospital food at all)
6pm - 7:30pm - playing board games and games with other patients (they all cheat at Scrabble tho) *sigh*
7:30pm - 10pm - free time
10pm: bed.

It was there I discovered kinetic sand!

Kinetic sand to an aspie is like catnip to a cat. :twisted:

I loved it there and wish I could go back and do it all over again...it was like a mental health resort.


That sounds great! I wonder if it's because you're in Australia? I've never been to any health institutions that offers all you can eat. Everyone gets a tray like school lunches, usually with soggy bread and mashed potatoes. Tiny little cup of juice (kiddie sized). Most people seem to lie there all day. I'm sure there are programs and activities, but many people don't participate. It usually doesn't smell very good there either.


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SoMissunderstood
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24 Jan 2015, 4:44 am

y-pod wrote:
SoMissunderstood wrote:
I just got out of one. I did a one month stint at a new Mental Health Rehabilitation Unit on the South Coast of NSW. It was like a 5 star hotel there! :lol:

7:30am - wake up
7:30am - 8:30am - breakfast
8:30am - 9:30am - meditation and group therapy
9:30am -10:30am - living skills classes (budgeting and financial planning, dietitian, coping skills etc)
10:30am - 11:30am - lectures from visiting doctors and psychologists, employment agencies, community services...yada (boring)
11:30am - 12:30pm - lunch (gourmet smorgasbord)
12:30pm - 2pm - individual counselling, exercise classes (gym) and personal appointments with staff
2pm - 3:30pm - Occupational therapy - doing craft and really fun stuff!
3:30pm - 4:30pm - quiet time - relaxation and mindfulness classes
4:30pm - 6pm - dinner (fully catered and all you can eat - not like hospital food at all)
6pm - 7:30pm - playing board games and games with other patients (they all cheat at Scrabble tho) *sigh*
7:30pm - 10pm - free time
10pm: bed.

It was there I discovered kinetic sand!

Kinetic sand to an aspie is like catnip to a cat. :twisted:

I loved it there and wish I could go back and do it all over again...it was like a mental health resort.


That sounds great! I wonder if it's because you're in Australia? I've never been to any health institutions that offers all you can eat. Everyone gets a tray like school lunches, usually with soggy bread and mashed potatoes. Tiny little cup of juice (kiddie sized). Most people seem to lie there all day. I'm sure there are programs and activities, but many people don't participate. It usually doesn't smell very good there either.

I don't know if it's because I live in Australia, or because the mental hospital had only been open for a few months - it is a 20 bed sub-acute unit at Shoalhaven Hospital in Nowra, NSW. It is fully government funded and operated by NSW Mental Health and Partners In Recovery:

http://www.islhd.health.nsw.gov.au/Capi ... efault.asp

http://www.pirinitiative.com.au/about/o ... tion=login

The whole area is pretty posh anyway...it was a posh mental unit.

The whole thing gets catered by A Slice of Life and by Flagstaff Foods.
https://www.flagstaffgroup.com.au/

It was such a nice experience to be there...like my whole brain was on holidays and I didn't need to worry or think about anything....but it was compulsory to participate in every activity or you got kicked out if you didn't.

I fully enjoyed all the activities anyway.



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05 Feb 2015, 4:27 pm

...Yes , and it f****d up my life :cry: . I hate them . Downer , huh ?



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06 Feb 2015, 1:44 am

One experience.

Is was a rather painful experience at least for the first few days, since I was involuntarily committed.

However, I got the meds I needed, and there was some positive things that came out of it. It all depends on the staff. You've got good caring staff and everything runs smoothly. You've got a bunch of jerks running the staff and things don't run smoothly. In my case, there was one jerky guy but most of the people were good enough to balance him out.



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06 Feb 2015, 5:50 am

I've been to three different places. All voluntary admission to deal with depression or other issues and going was my idea, nobody suggested it to me. I was in one place on a 72 hour hold after a suicide attempt.

My experiences varied depending on the hospital that I was at, and what type of place it was. The best experience was at the for profit hospital that my mother had worked at since it opened, and she had started as a head nurse and ended in administration, and I had worked there for a while too as a teenager and when I first married. The staff to patient ratio was low, they offered lots of things on the floor that you were able to choose to take part in or not, the doctors were good, the accommodations were excellent, almost like a hotel, the food was excellent and we had a choice of cafeteria food or one from one of the three restaurants on campus, and it was overall a good experience.

The next place down the list was a teaching hospital that I was in and the staff was very competent and they did offer several options during the day but not that many. The accommodations weren't as nice and the food was horrible, and I was bothered by interns and residents wanting to talk to me a lot in addition to my doctor. They did offer more options for treatment and were more up to date on the cutting edge stuff, but I didn't need that. They even did electroshock therapy there, and one lady on the floor was having that because it helped her and she decided to, she wasn't forced. It wasn't all that great but it was what I would consider an average American hospital stay.

The worst place was a smaller hospital in another county where they would send people who needed drug detox, were suicidal, or needed psych treatment with no insurance. It wasn't a charity or state place or the bottom of the barrel by any means but it was unacceptable to me. I had no choice but to stay there for the 72 hours after I tried to kill myself, but the accommodations were terrible, it was always hot or cold, the food was aweful, the staff were not helpful or caring and I saw my doctor for less than five minutes every morning and that was it. I was forced to go to group therapies where I had to listen to some New Age lady tell me to relax on the floor with other people so I'd lay there for an hour with everybody else listening to her drone on about progressive relaxation, then I'd go to another class where another lady gave us crayons and paper and played music and we were supposed to draw how it made us feel, a "group therapy" session led by a social worker who was also a lay preacher and we talked very little but mainly listened to him tell us that prayer, clean living and God would help us.

That was my experience in mental hospitals. They were all just psychiatric units in regular full service hospitals, I've never been in something like an insane asylum or a state mental hospital or anything though. Not that some people don't think I might benefit from it ;-)


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felinesaresuperior
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06 Feb 2015, 10:31 am

Skibz888 wrote:
I've been to plenty, courtesy of my severe bipolar. :?

More often than not, though, I've been to ERs and ETSes (which is like a psych ER), which is typically where you start out. Staying in hospital ERs is awful; you're just isolated in a cold hospital room with a security guard keeping watch (with varying levels of security strictness, e.g. sometimes you can go to the bathroom on your own, other times it's just a bottle) for hours upon hours on end until they're able to move me to their own ward or transport me to ETS. At ETS they hold/evaluate you for a night until they either release you with some pills and follow-up psychiatrist appointment, or they transfer you to another facility for further hold.

Every hospital varies: I've been in good ones (more leisurely environments where they have regular therapy and activities) and bad ones (which are kind of like adult day cares). If you ask someone "what is it like?", they'll all say the same thing: boring. I always get lots of reading done in hospitals because there's so little to do during the days. My medication at least helped me sleep for long periods of time, but there's really not much to do, especially for hospitals which don't have any regular activities.

However, the most important thing to remember is this: whether my experience was good or bad, the hospitals all helped me. They put me on the right medications which successfully stabilized me and prevented me from doing something really bad to myself and others (sure, I went back a lot, but that's my own irresponsibility). Don't let people's negative experiences make hospitals seem scary; they're not at all like they are in the movies. They're there to help you. Honestly, it's actually pretty hard to get into a hospital unless they see you as a genuine threat, so don't think that if you tell someone you're hearing voices (I remember you're the one who started the voices thread) that you're immediately going to be locked up. It doesn't happen that way. Hospitals can be unpleasant, but they're ultimately beneficial.


aweful

whoever heard of such a thing? cant even go to the bahtroom on your own sometimes? sounds more like a prison than a mental institution... were you under suicide watch? because i read the law dictates anyone addmitted to a mental institution, even against their will, are to be allowed to walk freely in the hospital grounds, and i believe this includes the yard as well, unless their condition prevents it, (suicidal, self harming).


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